Project summary

The Internet has become an integral part of daily life for many
in modern industrialised societies. Just over ten years after
Netscape's Mosaic browser was made universally available for free
which some commentators consider to be 'the dawn of the popular
Internet'), two thirds of the UK adult population are Internet
users. Everyday activities, from education and employment to
shopping and participation in social networks, increasingly have
the potential to be carried out (at least in part) online, without
recourse to physical mobility by the individual undertaking the
activity.

As Internet use changes our perceptions of accessibility, by
weakening the traditionally strong links between activity,
distance, place and time, questions regarding the impacts of
Internet use for accessibility and thus activity participation and
travel have been raised. This research explored these impacts of
Internet use.

Diary study and national survey

The research involved a detailed longitudinal diary study of
c.100 people with Internet access with participants recording their
daily on-line and off-line activities for a 7-day period over three
panel waves (at 6-monthly intervals). In parallel a two-wave (2003
and 2006) national survey of c1000 individuals was carried out.

The diary study revealed the following findings:

there was no evidence to support a link between physical
mobility and virtual mobility;

there was no evidence to suggest a negative effect of virtual
mobility for sociability;

virtual mobility can provide a viable alternative to physical
mobility in reducing aspects of mobility-related exclusion;
and

the research confirmed the importance of multitasking for the
understanding of travel behaviour, Internet use and activity
participation.

The national survey added many complementary findings including:

the indication of a clear trend of increasing amounts of
Internet use;

evidence of a changing acceptance of the Internet with its
increased (cultural) prevalence and (individual) use over
time;

a substantial minority of respondents suggesting (perceiving)
their travel has decreased as a result of Internet use;

between a third and a half of respondents suggesting
travel-related factors influence their decisions to participate in
activities online rather than offline;

the majority of respondents suggesting no effect of Internet
use upon sociability with a substantial minority reporting positive
effects; and

between a third and a half of respondents suggesting that the
ability to multitask influences their decision to do activities
online.